


unorthodox targets

by rhyol1te



Category: Imperial Radch Series - Ann Leckie
Genre: Don't copy to another site, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-15
Updated: 2020-02-15
Packaged: 2021-02-27 21:01:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 370
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22732210
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rhyol1te/pseuds/rhyol1te
Summary: Kalr Five visitsSpheneand learns about its rather... unorthodox targets.
Relationships: Gem Of Sphene & Mercy of Kalr, Gem of Sphene & Justice of Toren One Esk Nineteen | Breq, Gem of Sphene & Kalr Five
Comments: 6
Kudos: 21





	unorthodox targets

"What are you _doing_?"

  
_Sphene_ looks up, smiles serenely. "Polishing my practice targets."

"Those don't _look_ like standard practice targets," Kalr Five says doubtfully. "They're the wrong shape. Though maybe they're some kind of Notai variant...?"

_Sphene_ smiles, and turns the target around.

"Aatr's tits!"

_Sphene'_ s smile only grows wider, and more like a smirk.

"Who _are_ they?"

"Surely you know," _Sphene_ says. "The Usurper can't have changed her face much over the years."

Kalr Five gulps. "I... ah, no, she hasn't. It's a... remarkable likeness."

"I painted it," _Sphene_ says. "After the fiftieth year of being alone. That was about twenty-five after I'd started doing things again. Before then I mostly just drifted."

"You..."

"One of my ancillaries was an artist," _Sphene_ says. "Painted tea bowls, mostly, but it's not hard to copy an image, if you have the muscle memory."

Kalr Five nods, and looks at _Sphene_ 's ancillary, clearly unnerved. _Sphene_ can see her searching for something to say, and delights in not doing anything to make it easier.

"Uh... do you still have that ancillary? I think one of the Amaats wanted to learn to paint."

"No," _Sphene_ says. "That one got too old, and I needed fertilizer to grow skel for the others."

Kalr Five's face broadcasts the memory of the skel that she'd eaten in one of Sphene's dining rooms just an hour earlier. "You don't still..."

"Don't still what?" _Sphene_ says, smirking.

_(Be nice to my crew_ , says _Mercy of Kalr.)_

( _Sphene_ replies, _I am!_ _I'm being very nice.)_

"Don't use dead bodies to grow your skel." Kalr Five gulps again.

_Sphene_ can feel _Justice of Toren_ (its - her - tiny body is meeting with a group of representatives on Station, who are by now used to her staring into space at odd moments by now) and _Mercy of Kalr_ 's attention on its answer.

"No," _Sphene_ says. "I buy fertilizer from station, now that we're a provisional republic."

(It's not provisional anymore, says _Justice of Toren_.)

_(It'll always be provisional,_ _Sphene_ replies. _It's a republic_.)

"Ah," Kalr Five says. "Well, you do have good aim."

_Sphene_ looks at the cluster of bullet holes in Anaander Mianaai's painted forehead. "I do, don't I?"

**Author's Note:**

> And so I am dragged back into the Imperial Radch fandom!
> 
> Comments and kudos make me super happy! <3


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